The start of a new thing for us. This time we’ll have a megadungeon called Gunderholfen as our campaign tentpole. You’ll learn about it soon enough. But not now, in our first session the players have chosen instead to go into the Magical Forest to explore The Hole in the Oak.

TTRPG system used: Free League’s Dragonbane instead of OSE

Aside: Yes, once again I’ll be running adventures within a system not intended for them. This is the way I’ve been doing things for a while now, a bit more complicated as I have to adapt quite a few things, but there’s an intent behind this… Huh, yes, there’s an intent I’m telling you!

Furthermore, I’ll be borrowing some concepts from Ryoko Kui’s Delicious in Dungeon.

Player Characters (PCs):

• Aracyne (Isaac), Elf Hunter, Guild Leader
• Malique, (Edmond), Dogman Knight
• Hédralynn (Marjorie), Elf Mage
• Jean Lebeau (Olivier), Dogman Fighter

We start in Longfelt. The party meets with the town’s high constable Vandemaut who wants them to go check on the dwarven ruins of Gunderhlofen, see if there’s monsters inside or just humanoids. « Oh, I almost forgot », he said, « there’s the daugther of Clement the taylor missing, probably held captive into the ruins. There’s a reward if you manage to save her ». The adventurers buy a few goods and leave town.

They don’t go to Gunderholfen though, they go explore a place that Aracyne had found earlier while roaming the Magical Forest.

The Hole in the Oak. Dungeon Type: Natural (Pertubed).

• The PCs enter a passage at the base of an ancient oak. They see hoof-prints and boot-prints on the ground. NOLLY’S KINGDOM is carved on a root.
• They manage to slip through the roots and go left at a junction. A purple-robed man appears from thin air and delivers a semi-coherent message before disappearing.
• They get into a circular room with a rug in the middle. There’s a rune under the rug.
• Thence, the PCs open a door west and find two scrolls and numerous jars with tiny dead persons floating in them. They take the scrolls.
• Going north, they are blocked by a locked door and then open another one into a room that has a pit filled with grimy water and a suspicious pile of gold on the other side. They don’t fall for it and go elsewhere.
• Going on they hear the subtle sound of a door opening behind them, the one that they found was locked. Three foul-smelling troglodytes are coming at them! The two dogmen have a hard time because of their sensitive sense of smell. The adventurers prevail but Malique is wounded.
• In the big adjacent room through the now open door, the PCs find a secret door and a chest full of silver pieces.
• Thence, the PCs go north, they hear the sound of running water. They turn a corner and stumble upon several naked corpses on the ground. A beast lore check tells Hédralynn that they’re most likely ghouls and the PCs retreat silently.
• Backtracking a little, the adventurers find another access to the underground river and even take the time for some fishing with the fishing canes readily available. They catch several fishes that will come in handy later on.
• A bit further, they get into a large room with some statue and with several doors and passages going in every direction.
• In the nearest passage they find a dead dwarf with a coil of nasty black vine around his neck. They see the same black vines hanging from the ceiling a bit further.
• They try another way. Listening at a door they hear loud snoring. They open the door and see an ogre, terribly malformed and sleeping on a large chair. A makeshift jail hold 4 prisoners, barely human mutants. The adventurers want to free them and Hédralynn opens the jail’s door with a spell. The Ogre doesn’t wake up luckily but the mutants eye the adventurers with a look of hunger. They receive fresh raw fish that they devour instantly Gollum-like.
• Fed mutants in tow, the PCs go explore a strange metallic room nearby. There’s a huge metal ball on one side and 6 levers on the wall. That doesn’t hold the interest of the adventurers and they go further south along another passage.
• To their left is a huge widening natural cave but they go right, near the entrance in fact, into a small room with all sort of root faces. The faces speak in unison and offer knowledge in exchange of payment. Cordélia give some silver pieces and learn of the « treachery of the gnomes ». Another go and this time it’s « the fruits of the underworld are magical but can twist the mind of the weak-willed ».
• Going further they enter a spiralling passage. They also see hoof-prints going in. They find bright-colored hats and cloaks hanging from roots and Jean takes one of each. But seeing that there was 12 hats the PCs get a little anxious to encounter their hoof-footed owners and decide to call it a day.
• They exit the dungeon and escort the mutants back in town to see if someone could help them with magic or something.

Closing Comments:

• I’d only skimmed through the adventure prior to running it but it has a very user-friendly layout and it went smoothly enough.
• The players had more positive comments about the new system than about the adventure itself. in particular they liked how xp gains is attached to the use of skills in Dragonbane.
• So we have a party of two elves and two dogmen, that’s a bit weird haha! The Dogman kin is not even a thing in Dragonbane but it replaces the Wolfman as a throwback to Kobolds (that are bipedal dogs) in Delicious in Dungeons.
• The Mage’s magic trick Open/Close isn’t supposed to work on locked doors so I could have retconned the Mutants and Ogre situation but I’ve let it go this time.